Some of us may have made a gear purchase we regretted at one time or another. It happens.
Lighting is probably a big one on the "wish I hadn't done that" list.
What is the worst lighting purchase you ever made, and what is the best?
In my case it was a matter of being ignorant. I was truck driving full time and decided I wanted to get into photography. I did a lot of review reading, watched a lot of how to videos on YouTube, and thought I knew how to delve into the hobby in a smart way. Was I ever wrong.
Sadly, nearly all my lighting purchases were the wrong purchases for me.
First I thought that continuous lighting was the way to go. While that works for some it turns out my spare room is too small for any kind of portrait work. I bought a bunch of Fotodiox LED lighting products I never use except to plug into a generator when I go camping. The biggest expensive mistake in continuous lighting was the purchase of a Rosco Litepad Axiom 12"x 12". It got used once or twice for some tabletop fun involving bottles of liquor.
My biggest mistake for flash? I had just read Syl Arena's "Speedliters Handbook". There was his work in all its glory and using up to 15 Canon 600EX-RT for his shots. He'd mount them on wooden boards in big gangs.. I thought, COOL! That has to be the way to go for outdoor shots! So I ended up with 7 of the 600EX-RT and the ST-E3-RT.
That's when I realized that although Mr. Arena's work is famous, his method is unwieldy at best. It is just too much work and too time consuming to gang the mob together for shooting outdoors and they really don't pack much of a punch.
Long story short I never use the LED lighting or the Canon Speedlites.
I use a single Flashpoint Streaklight (360ws) and have been happy as I can be with it. I wish I had just bought 2 or 3 of them instead of the rest. Could have had a 1DX for all that wasted money.
So, now that I've told my most embarrassing story in the hobby, what is yours?
Lighting is probably a big one on the "wish I hadn't done that" list.
What is the worst lighting purchase you ever made, and what is the best?
In my case it was a matter of being ignorant. I was truck driving full time and decided I wanted to get into photography. I did a lot of review reading, watched a lot of how to videos on YouTube, and thought I knew how to delve into the hobby in a smart way. Was I ever wrong.
Sadly, nearly all my lighting purchases were the wrong purchases for me.
First I thought that continuous lighting was the way to go. While that works for some it turns out my spare room is too small for any kind of portrait work. I bought a bunch of Fotodiox LED lighting products I never use except to plug into a generator when I go camping. The biggest expensive mistake in continuous lighting was the purchase of a Rosco Litepad Axiom 12"x 12". It got used once or twice for some tabletop fun involving bottles of liquor.
My biggest mistake for flash? I had just read Syl Arena's "Speedliters Handbook". There was his work in all its glory and using up to 15 Canon 600EX-RT for his shots. He'd mount them on wooden boards in big gangs.. I thought, COOL! That has to be the way to go for outdoor shots! So I ended up with 7 of the 600EX-RT and the ST-E3-RT.
That's when I realized that although Mr. Arena's work is famous, his method is unwieldy at best. It is just too much work and too time consuming to gang the mob together for shooting outdoors and they really don't pack much of a punch.
Long story short I never use the LED lighting or the Canon Speedlites.
I use a single Flashpoint Streaklight (360ws) and have been happy as I can be with it. I wish I had just bought 2 or 3 of them instead of the rest. Could have had a 1DX for all that wasted money.
So, now that I've told my most embarrassing story in the hobby, what is yours?